Extinct, Korean Tiger

Extinct, Korean Tiger

I finished this painting a couple of years ago. It's been hanging in my hall, and I've never exhibited it; I thought it was too different from anything I've done before.

I used all sorts of inks, gold and copper acrylics, glazes and Korean handmade paper (fabulous stuff).
Oh, and the writing is Korean. A lot of the letters are also extinct, like their tigers, and my Korean friends couldn't read it for me. I thought it was fitting. He's on canvas board.

But a couple of weeks ago there was a call for entries to an exhibition for an animal charity. I thought my tiger was appropriate.

And he just sold. I'm delighted, and surprised because he is so unlike my other work.

I now have a gap in my hall that needs to be filled. Yay.

March 2015
Since writing this post, there have been some developments. Yes, this painting was sold, but the gallery never paid me. I have tried to take them to court, but they closed up shop, and then reopened in the same place under a different name. I haven't exhibited since.

Astronomy Has Landed - At Last

Weightless, oil on board

I've just finished a new painting.

I've been working on it for months.

I mentioned a good while back, in my post Inspiration, that I was going to be working on a series of paintings inspired by astronomy. Well, here's the first one. It turns out that I find working on something abstract very difficult. But I think I got there in the end.

I have used layers of paint to try and get the affects I wanted, letting them dry, scrapping them away with all kinds of tools (a screwdriver included), getting frustrated with the colours I was using and painting them out.

It's such a relief to finish this painting, and I am already really looking forward to working on the next one.

Hopefully, it won't be as painful and frustrating to produce!

National Trust for Scotland

Holmwood House, a photo I took at the beginning
of December last year. My car got stuck. Ho hum.

It appears that I have a bit of a busy time coming up.

I am booked into the Brodie Castle craft fair on the weekend of 26th and 27th November, as I mentioned in my post Craft Fair.

And now, Holmwood House, another National Trust property, have asked me to take part in their craft fair on the 3rd and 4th December.

As a result of all this activity, and the preparation that has to go into it, I've decided to postpone my Studio Open Day until next year.

A hard decision, but given that I have to do a lot less when it comes to marketing, financially it's the right one, for the moment. And if the fair goes well in December, there is an option to attend the following one at Holmwood House on the 10th and 11th December.

Open Studio - Mind Map

I can have loads of ideas buzzing about in my head at the same time, and when I am like that, I have difficulty working out what I should be concentrating on. So I draw Mind Maps. Given that I am a visual person, I find it very handy seeing my ideas in a visual format, and it gets them all out of my head and onto paper which is a relief.

Open Studio Mind Map

I start off with one subject, in this case, my Open Studio Day (mentioned in my Immediate Advertising post yesterday), and draw arms for each subject that needs to be dealt with, for example paintings, insurance, merchandise, a date, advertising. Then I start to draw arms from each of these until all my thoughts small or large are on paper (or in the mind mapping software, in my case).

Now that the map is finished (well, for the moment, there is nothing to stop me adding to it), it's up on my studio wall. I've started picking out everything that has to be done, and working out when they need to be dealt with.

It helped me to pinpoint that my poster, and establishing a date round advertising are the first things I need to do.

Immediate Advertising

I'll change the image to a landscape
next week.

I'm thinking about having an Open Studio Day. It's a bit unnerving, inviting people to see what I do, where I do it, but I think it is the right thing for me at the moment.

In order to do this, I have decided to get my name better known in my local area, and have been working on a load of ideas (I'll fill you in as time goes on).

Here is a poster I am going to be displaying down the road from here. I'll be changing the image on it every week.

Tiger

White Tiger

I have just finished this painting of a white swimming tiger.

I originally saw him in Singapore and did a number of drawings of him, as well as taking photos.

Now I need to stop painting and plan my work for the next 2 months.

Oh, and I'm applying for a part time job that looks very exciting - wish me luck!

Craft Fair

I was selling at a craft fair on Saturday, and spent the week stock taking, making booklets, notebooks and greetings cards getting myself ready for the big day.

This is what my table looked like, and all went well. For me, fairs are just as much about selling as pointing people towards my website and collecting their email addresses for marketing.

I'm hoping that I will be attending another fair through the National Trust at Brodie Castle in time for Christmas at the end of November.

I am now planning my build up to Christmas, and have ideas swirling around in my head, including an Open Studio day in December, craft fairs galore, advertising and offers through my website and of course Christmas exhibitions at galleries.

I'll let you know what I do end up doing, but I'll just have to remember that I can rest in January.

Lion Painting

Simba

Here's a painting I have been working on.  I've called him Simba.

I'm now working on a stag, and when I publish that image, I'll let you know what I've been up to.

Painting At My Fingertips

Tiger Sunshine

I may have mentioned in the past that I rather like technology, but to tell the truth, I absolutely love it and believe there is room for it as part of an artist's equipment if you aren't too much of a traditionalist.

I can spend hours fiddling about on a computer working on designs trying to get them right, deleting bits that don't work and undoing things until I find the image I liked before I ruined it. So much to my surprise, and utter delight, I got my grubby paws on an iPad; and it took me all of one day to realise I could use it, amongst many, many things, as a sketch book.

Panda

Here are some paintings I did with my fingers on the little electronic iPad marvel. It felt wonderful working with my fingertips (and not having to wash up afterwards).

I have been exploring the potential for just a week now and have loads of ideas and possibilities buzzing about in my head already.

As I said before, I love technology.

Thank you Steve Jobs. RIP.

Paperwork

My work table, not covered in painting materials as it should be,
but with my laptop, and too much paperwork.

I had this blog all planned for you, and then blew it when I accidently deleted the photos I had taken to go with it (I've not been well, and foolishly thought I could write my blog while sick). I was going to tell you all about my craft fair days, but that will have to wait until next month when I have my table set up again at an event and my camera with me.

I have been busy, though, doing paperwork. It has to be done. Being an artist can be so glamorous (raised eyebrows, subtle cough); this is what I have been doing...

1. Writing up an over long To Do list, and trying to stick to it.
2. Getting my accounts up to date. Nuff said, yawn.
3. Sorting out my merchandise (greetings cards, prints etc), reordering where necessary, setting aside items that need to go to galleries and shops and ensuring that my inventory lists are up to date and correct. Sadly, I really like doing this.
4. Applying for commissions (I wrote about this in my Lead Artist post), and ploughing through all commissioner's paperwork while producing pages of my own for their perusal.
5. Getting my CV sorted for the Lead Artist applications. Scary task. 
6. Reading and sorting through marketing information from the company marketing my website. Still waiting to see good results, but things are beginning to happen.
7. Applying to exhibitions and competitions, and preparing for the associated emotional highs and lows.
8. Wondering if I should take a chance and enter one of my short stories into a writing competition, but that means I have to do a spot of rewriting. Yes I write, and love it. I'm even working on an illustrated  kids book - more about that in another post.
9. Getting cross eyed and desperate to start painting and drawing again.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, though, and am going to be filing all this paperwork away very soon, making way for paints, pastels and anything really messy I can think of. 

Woohoo.